Source of Falu red
Falun
A Swedish mining town whose copper mine gave the dark red paint seen on wooden houses across the country.
Why Falun is falu red
Falun, in central Sweden, grew around a copper mine worked for about a thousand years until it closed in 1992. For a time in the 17th century it produced most of Europe's copper. The waste rock left by mining contains iron ochre, silica and a little copper. When it is washed, sifted and roasted, it becomes a dark red pigment. Mixed with water, flour and linseed oil, this makes Falu red paint, which soaks into rough timber and helps protect it. From the 16th century it was used to make wooden buildings look like brick. By the 19th century it was cheap enough for every farm, and the red cottage with white corners became the picture of rural Sweden.
Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.
Colours tied to Falun
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Falun" on Wikipedia. If you know Falun and we have it wrong, tell us.
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🇮🇳 Akbar's red sandstone cityFatehpur SikriA Mughal capital built in one red stone in the 1570s and left by the court only a few years later.Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Shekhawati In: Digrajsingh, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kutch In: Zeel Satyendra Modi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kanchipuram In: Ssriram mt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Auroville In: Kaspar Konrad, Public domain, source
- Fatehpur Sikri In: HibaSiddiqui, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gamla Stan Se: Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source